This was the first permanent theatre in Lublin and one of the oldest institutions of this kind in Poland. It was built in 1822 according to the design by its owner and architect Łukasz Rodakiewicz. It was decorated with Classicist figurative ornaments such as arcades, leaf-like feminine masks and gryphons. The auditorium accommodated a total of 334 seats. The Old Theatre had successfully functioned until the opening of a new, presentable municipal theatre (now the Juliusz Osterwa Theatre) in 1887. In the beginning of the 20th c. the building was turned into a cinema first called ‘Theatre Optique Parisien’, then ‘Rialto’, ‘Wiedza’, ‘Panteon’ and ‘Adria’. After World War II it hosted the Staromiejskie Cinema, which operated until the 1980s. After that, the neglected building gradually fell into disrepair. Thorough renovation works completed in 2012 restored the Old Theatre to its former glory.